


Scream Team

by emma_enchanted



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M, Gen, Halloween, Spooooooky, fake blood tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27308521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emma_enchanted/pseuds/emma_enchanted
Summary: The gang arrives at the Rampion to celebrate Halloween and, unsurprisingly, there's more in store than a night of candy and movies.
Relationships: Iko & Linh Cinder, Jacin Clay/Winter Hayle-Blackburn, Kai/Linh Cinder, Rampion Crew Friendship, Scarlet Benoit/Wolf | Ze'ev Kesley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Scream Team

The Rampion was bright orange. 

Maybe that was an exaggeration. The majority of the ship had been painted bright orange, save for jack-o-lantern face in black. 

Cinder stared up at it, eyebrows crunched. She knew that Thorne would go all out for Halloween, but she hadn’t thought he’d paint his beloved ship. 

“Cinder?”

She turned. Kai was looking at her inquisitively. 

“Ready?” Cinder nodded. Together they went up the ramp and into the (now insultingly colored) Rampion, where Scarlet and Wolf were already waiting in the loading dock.

“Do either of you know what’s supposed to be going on here?” Scarlet asked. “Thorne wasn’t exactly specific on the details.”

Cinder shook her head. “No clue. I’m guessing it’s something dramatic, considering the paint job. Is Iko here yet?

“Haven’t seen her. Maybe she’s got a big costume planned and it’s taking a while.”

The lights switched off as Scarlet stopped talking. The four froze, not daring to move in the dark. 

“Aaauugh!” Kai yelped. “Something bumped into my leg!” 

A soft, dim light flicked on to reveal a hooded figure. 

“AAAAAAUGH!” 

“Friends, calm down. It’s just me.” The hood came down to reveal Winter, holding a candle. Jacin came into view just behind her. 

“I thought this might be spooky so I brought some light!” Winter held the candle out to the group like a trophy. Jacin looked grumpy as usual. 

“Was that you who bumped into me?” Kai asked. 

Winter tilted her head. “I don’t think so.”

Kai and Cinder looked at each other. 

“It’s probably just Thorne messing with you,” she told him. 

“Yeah, probably,” he replied, but he didn’t sound sure. 

“Ok, so now we’re standing in the dark.” Scarlet was now standing and holding Wolf’s hand. “What now?”

Wolf’s expression changed. He lifted his nose and inhaled. 

“There’s some… odd smell in here.”

They all swiveled to look at him. If Wolf said there was an odd, unrecognizable smell, it needed to be taken seriously. 

“It isn’t strong. Just off. But I’ve never smelled it before.” He glanced down again. “I don’t really know what to make of it.” There was a pause, then his eyes widened just as Cinder felt something light and scrabbly fall on her head. 

Everyone jolted upright, feeling the same sensation. Cinder rubbed her head and then looked down to see where the object had fallen. It was difficult to spot in the dim light, but thanks to her cyborg vision she saw it— a little plastic spider laying on its back. 

She reached down and picked it up, feeling three more land on her back as she did so. She examined it closely. Just a plastic spider, as she’d thought. Nothing but a practical joke. 

“Very funny, Thorne,” she called out, sure that he was the one behind this. “You can come out now.”

One solitary spider fell to the floor before the barraging stopped. The others straightened up and looked above them for the source. There was nothing. 

Instead of any sort of helpful response, a door opened to the left, releasing a mist of fog and orange light. 

Scarlet sighed. “I guess we’re supposed to go through here?”

Jacin grumbled, but Winter elbowed him the side. “Don’t be such a grumpy goose. It’s for Halloween, it’ll be spooky and fun.”

“Hey,” Scarlet said, nudging Wolf. “Do you think what you were smelling was plastic spider?”

Wolf bit his lip. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Kai grabbed Cinder’s hand. She looked at him in surprise. 

“Are you scared?” he asked her. 

“No,” Cinder scoffed. “It takes more than a couple of fake spiders and a fog machine to scare me at this point.” And to prove it, she led the march. 

The next room was decked out in typical second-era halloween style— pumpkins, more fake spiders, and cobwebs that drooped from every conceivable point, catching everyone in the face. 

Cinder rolled her eyes as they came to the next door they were supposed to go through. She could tell because of the drippy red lettering. 

“Enter if you dare,” Scarlet read. “Is that a threat?”

“Sounds like it,” Jacin said while guiding Winter, who had managed to get a mound of cobwebs stuck over her face and was having trouble seeing where she was going.

“Wait a second…” Wolf moved out ahead of the rest, sniffing intently. “I think this is what I smelled earlier. It smells…tomato-ish? But also not.”

Scarlet moved in to join him. “It’s definitely supposed to look like blood.” 

Wolf dipped a tentative finger in the substance and tasted it. “It tastes a little tomato-ish too.”

Cinder released a breath, which was odd since she wasn’t scared. Yet still she was relieved to hear that whatever it was on the door, it wasn’t actual blood. 

Does that mean she thought, even for a second, that it might be?

Undeterred, Wolf pushed open the next door. It was almost completely shaded with a layer of fog, temporarily blinding everyone. Cinder felt a chill run down her spine, but she ignored it. She wasn’t scared of paltry tricks. Tentatively, following Wolf’s lead to make themselves feel protected, they all crept into the next room. 

The walls were splattered with fake blood, the same as on the door. In the center of the room lay a knife, dried red at the blade. 

The fluttering of papery wings sounded and everyone looked up. Instinctively Cinder grabbed Kai’s hand, who looked at her surprised. 

“I’m not _scared_ ,” she claimed. “Just surprised. It’s fine.” 

Kai bit his lip to keep from laughing as she let his hand go. 

Everyone gathered around the knife in the center. Winter, finally free of cobwebs, bent down and reached out to touch it. 

“Don’t _touch_ it!!” Jacin exclaimed, pulling her away. 

“Oh come on. It’s not real. It’s not even real blood.”

Wolf sniffed again. “Actually…”

Scarlet looked at him, eyes wide. “Are you saying that’s actual blood?”

“I’m pretty sure. Not all that—” he gestured to the walls, “but on the knife, yes.”

Cinder felt herself tense. She forced herself to let it go, but it was all for nothing. 

In the next moment, she happened to look up as everyone else was looking down and saw the large white figure fall through the air straight towards her. 

“AAAAAAAAAGH!” 

She couldn’t hold the scream back; she let it loose and grabbed Kai and pulled him as close as possible. Without hesitation, he hugged her tight. 

“WOOHOOOOOOOO!” 

Cinder’s brow furrowed and she looked up, as did everyone else. 

“ALL RIGHT… oh shit.”

A door opened and out came Thorne, looking very pleased with himself. 

“What are you so happy about? And what’s with the haunted house?” Scarlet asked. 

“I had a feeling Cinder wouldn’t be much of a Halloween spirit person, so I may have… gone all out trying to change that.” He looked sheepish for a moment, then returned to smugness. “But it worked! I freaked you out!”

Cinder wanted to be mad. For about half a second. But she realized he was right— she never would have let loose on her own, and now she felt like watching a scary movie or stuffing her face with chocolate. 

“I guess you did scare me for a second there,” she conceded. “But it won’t happen again!”

“Admittedly,” Thorne said, “the ghost on a string was Cress’s idea.”

“And the fog machine!” Cress popped her head out of the door. “Don’t try to take credit for that one.”

“And the fog machine. But the paint job and the blood on the walls was mine!”

“What exactly did you use for the fake blood?” Wolf asked. “I didn’t quite recognize the smell.”

Thorne seemed surprised. “Ketchup. Classic fake blood. Have you never had ketchup?”

Wolf looked at Scarlet. “Have I ever had ketchup?”

“I don’t believe in ketchup. It’s just tomatoes pureed and mass-marketed. Why do that when you can grow your own fresh tomatoes?”

Winter tilted her head. “What about the knife? Wolf said that was real blood.”

“Iko’s idea. I cut my thumb to get that effect. Cool, right?”

“I’m going to take a look at that before we go,” Jacin said. “Just in case.”

Cinder began to ask another question, but it died in her throat as she saw the answer. As she had wondered where Iko was, Iko herself was creeping up behind the unsuspecting Thorne, who was now arguing with Jacin about the thumb.

“It’s nothing serious. I didn’t cut it deep. It just bled a little more than I expected, which was great becaaAAAAAAGH!”

Iko only had to grab his shoulders to send him careening over the edge; he jumped a foot off the floor and slammed into the wall. 

No one could hold it together. Everyone was keeled over laughing, including Cress over by the doorway. 

Iko straightened herself up and beamed at Cinder. 

“Thought it would be faster if I just got him back for you.”


End file.
